Some things I will remember about Tim Hyman’s memorial event at the RA this morning.

• One of his early drawings was of Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings

• He thought he peaked at eleven

• He was taught at Charterhouse by Ian Fleming-Williams, the Constable scholar who had previously hired Howard Hodgkin as the assistant art master

• He did an exhibition in 2000 on the Carnivalesque which was structured round themes from Bakhtin – the Tumultuous Crowd, The World Turned Upside-down, the Comic Mask and the Grotesque Body

• His classes at the Royal Drawing School were always oversubscribed

• He will miss the great Sienese exhibition which will open at the National Gallery in March

In his obituary of Fleming-Williams, he describes how ‘the sense remained that, beyond any specific role, he was pursuing some disinterested, and less easily definable, quest’.

The same might be said of Tim.

It was the funeral today of my beautiful, fragile, sad, tough cousin Rose, who looked after our garden for a while until it became clear that she was a pioneer in preferring weeds to flowers:-

I went to get some fishcakes from the farmers’ market in Victoria Park.  I have never seen the Regent’s Canal frozen:-

Talking of distinguished female museum directors, I am very upset to discover that Ros Savill, the former director of the Wallace Collection, died on December 27th. without me knowing she had even been ill. 

She was the nicest possible person – always cheerful, always a good ally at meetings of the Museum Directors’ Conference in the 1990s.  She renovated the Wallace Collection with great independence of mind, making it more lovely than it already was.  And she produced scholarly museum catalogues.  A grievous loss.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jan/02/dame-rosalind-savill-obituary?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Hearing Ian Collins read a poem by Lorca at Elizabeth Esteve-Coll’s memorial service reminded me that I never wrote a post to say how much I enjoyed and admired his recent biography of Ronald Blythe, Blithe Spirit.  A model of its kind: a fascinating subject, born in humble circumstances, but a remarkable observer and writer.  Collins says he wasn’t much interested in sex, but he seems to have sex with most of the people he meets.  He manages to steer a clever path between friendship and a sense of perspective, not easy when writing about a friend.  Maybe he should write Elizabeth’s biography next.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/dec/18/blythe-spirit-the-remarkable-life-of-ronald-blythe-by-ian-collins-review-village-voice?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

A beautiful sunny day in Norwich for Elizabeth Esteve-Coll’s memorial service.  Not a Cathedral I know well, but impressively well preserved, with all the paraphernalia of shop and catering in a new building designed with great sensitivity right alongside the cloister by Michael and Patty Hopkins.  I had not known how high Anglican Elizabeth was. Bach, Purcell and excellent readings and addresses.  I did not know she played hockey at school.  Born in Ripon (a Cathedral town).  And her degree from Birkbeck was in history and history of art (for the record):-

My last Welsh post (for the time being) shows two views of Moel Eilio on January 2, morning and evening:-

A beautiful January morning:-

There’s snow on the hills:-

We walked down to the river:-

There is quite a bit to look forward to in 2025:-

January 21

There is a second screening at the Barbican of Stardust, the film about Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

February

Jonathan Conlin’s new book about the National Gallery is due.

April

The new Frick opens with a new wing at the back and the whole reconfigured by Annabelle Selldorf.  It will be interesting to see how such a precious set of interiors has fared their renovation.  The public spaces can only be an improvement.

May 10

The Sainsbury Wing will re-open.

May 31

One half of V&A East – the Storehouse – will open. It should be a revelation of what the V&A holds in store, freely accessible.

October

Modern British Cities will be published by Lund Humphries, a big volume of essays edited by Simon Gunn, Peter Mandler and Otto Saumarez Smith.

October 28

Holly Smith’s first book, Up in the Air: A History of High Rise Britain will be published by Verso.

November

My book on Vanbrugh will appear: